This has been rumored in various circles for a few months now and I've mentioned something big might be in the works, so here it is.

Allegiant Travel, which includes Allegiant Air, is going public. The filing is for up to $100 million. Merrill Lynch & Co., Bear Stearns & Co. Inc. and Raymond James are the underwriters.

I'm still reading the filing but a few points:
* They had "On December 31, 2005, we had $53.3 million of unrestricted cash and investments. "

* 2005 Net Income was $7,292,000 on revenue of $90,664,000

* "We have identified at least 65 additional small cities in the U.S. and Canada where we can offer our low fare nonstop service to Las Vegas or Orlando."

* "We also believe there are several other world-class leisure destinations we could serve that share many of the same characteristics as Las Vegas and Orlando. These potential markets include several popular vacation destinations in the U.S., Mexico and the Caribbean."

For those not familiar with the organizational structure and the name Allegiant Travel:"On May 4, 2005, Allegiant Travel Company, LLC and Allegiant Vacations, LLC were formed as Nevada limited liability companies. Allegiant Travel Company, LLC was designated to serve as the holding company for Allegiant Air, LLC and Allegiant Vacations, LLC. To effectuate this, all outstanding shares of Allegiant Air, LLC were exchanged for shares of Allegiant Travel Company, LLC and thereafter Allegiant Air, LLC and Allegiant Vacations, LLC became wholly owned subsidiaries of Allegiant Travel Company, LLC (hereafter collectively referred to as "Allegiant" or the "Company").

I'm going through the financials now. Some of you will probably see things there I'm missing because I can't give it much attention for close analysis until Wed or Thurs because of my work schedule.

* "Our cost per available seat mile, or "CASM," was 6.82¢ and 7.41¢ for the years ended December 31, 2004 and 2005, respectively."

* "Excluding the cost of fuel, our CASM for the year ended December 31, 2005, was 4.27¢."

* 81.0% of sales were through the website.

* 14.7% were from travel agents

* I was off on the revenue number above, including charters and other income like hotels, etc. 2005 revenue was $132,500,000 with operating expenses at $123,999,000.

*Avg fare in 2005 - $105.07

*They are hedged on 6.4% of their project fuel for 2006.

* There is a MD87 and a MD83 aircraft currently in short-term storage. Also one MD83 is leased out on a short-term basis until September. The prospectus says these aircraft will enter service in Q4 2006.

I have to get back to some other work so I can't play with the numbers. But I'm sure someone else can give us some good analysis.

Nothing is official just yet. The letter filed to Nasdaq today was just a first required step. The head could change his mind. I doubt he will since a lot of effort has been put into this and if any of the rumors that have been floating around are true and being pursued, an IPO will have to happen. Don't be surprised if there is an announcement concerning the fleet shortly after this thing is a done deal.

Quoting Stirling (Reply 10):But what is the icon for Stockton? It's too small for me to figure out....and Ft Collins?

FNL is a skiier.SCK looks like a cherry in front of something. I know they grow or grew a lot of cherries there at one time. I got sick after eating a pound of cherries from Waterloo just NE of there many years ago (27).